Rochdale-headquartered Footasylum's profits spiked after fans returned to its stores when Covid-19 restrictions were lifted, it has been revealed.
The company's sales also surged during its latest financial year ahead of Bury's JD Sports being forced to sell the chain for a £50m loss over competition concerns. Footasylum is now owned by Germany-based asset management group Aurelius Group. It was originally bought by JD Sports in March 2019 for £90m but the giant sold it earlier this year for £37.5m.
Newly-filed accounts for Footasylum have revealed its pre-tax profits for the 12 months to January 29, 2022, jumped from £348,000 to £11.1m while its sales went from £232m to £280.8m. Footasylum's store sales increased from £95.8m to £143.7m while its online revenue rose from £125.8m to £128.6m. However, wholesale declined from £10.3m to £8.4m.
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Footasylum's UK sales grew from £221.2m to £270m and from £9.5m to £9.6m in Europe but dipped from £1.2m to £1.1m in the rest of the world.
The number of people employed by the company during the year declined from 1,621 to 1,492.
Since JD Sports bought Footasylum the deal was the subject of prolonged scrutiny and came to a head when both companies were jointly fined almost £5m for breaching rules around the merger.
The CMA said during two meetings, which took place on July 5, 2021, and August 4, 2021, then JD Sports CEO Peter Cowgill and Footasylum CEO Barry Bown "exchanged commercially sensitive information and then failed to alert or promptly alert the CMA". The companies were fined nearly £4.7m for the collective breaches.
On its latest financial figures, a statement signed off by the Footasylum board said: "The board is delighted with the record company performance and continued progression; we are encouraged by the resilient nature of our colleagues and consumers.
"However, Footaslyum is not immune to the widely reported challenges to physical retail in the UK; we remain conscious of the headwinds that prevail at this time including the general global macro-economic and geopolitical situation and global inflation.
"The group strategy continues to focus on understanding and entertaining out consumers.
"Our product-led approach is data driven by our consumer and experienced buying team.
"This approach continues to drive our omni-channel strategy and digital investment, keeping Footasylum agile, relevant and competitive.
"At the start of FY22 our retail stores have had significant disruption to trading with closures of non-essential stores caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Our priorities have been to ensure the safety of our colleagues and customers, to preserve financial resources and limit the impact on profitability.
"Demand has remained resilient throughout FY22 with consumers readily switching to online and offline channels, reflecting the benefits of an agile omni-channel approach which has been developed over several years.
"The UK Government has also provided Covid-18 support to which Footasylum ahs taken during FY22. This support includes furlough assistance and business rates holiday for tax year 2021/22."
On its outlook, the company added: "For FY23, the group is planning to maintain a similar level of its store base and store performance with continued growth in profitability.
"The group will continue to focus on robust cost control, streamlining and improvements to delivery efficiencies and savings as well as investment in our omni-channel proposition.
"The board continues to maintain its strong focus on cash and working capital management. Inventory will continue to be carefully managed throughout the period."
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